The most common reason for failing to convert traffic to a customer is found in the abandonment of the shopping cart. More than two-thirds of purchases are abandoned, and this represents a huge waste of the effort and investment which you have put into developing a WordPress eCommerce site.

It is also a huge opportunity for you to increase revenues!

Common Reasons for Abandonment

There are a number of reasons why online shopping carts are abandoned, and the three most common reasons are:

-difficult to use buying and ordering process;

-hidden fees and charges, especially shipping costs; and

-customer’s preferred payment option is not provided.

Difficult to Use Ordering Process

Reduce your ordering process to the most simple and basic steps you can. Only ask for information which is directly relevant to completing the transaction at hand – do not allow your desire to cross-market or gain more information for your marketing people to detract from getting the customer to click on the authorise button when it comes to paying for their order!

Test your website to see if it is quick and easy to use. Don’t rely on your own people to do this – they will be familiar with any quirks that are peculiar to your website – try testing it with strangers and see what their feedback is.

You also need to make sure the website is loading speedily – now is not the time for fancy flash web pages and 5 minute load times – quick, clean and minimalist is the way to go.

Hidden Fees & Charges

The biggest sin is hitting the customer with a high shipping or handling charge when it comes time for them to authorize the purchase. By far, this is the most common form of shopping cart abandonment when the customer has gotten to the final buying page and a staggering number of sales are lost at this point.

Be transparent about shipping and handling charges – offer free shipping wherever possible, but in any event, tell the customer what it will cost to ship a product alongside the price you are charging for the product itself. You are aiming for the surfer to pay exactly what they have been told they will have to pay for and ensure they get no surprises when they see the final total they have to authorize.

Preferred Payment Options

Offering a wide variety of payment options is helpful in converting traffic to customers not only because it is convenient for them, but it also makes you look like a serious and credible eCommerce site. Make your payment options available widely known throughout the website and tie this in with the website security you use – again, something which should be highlighted because it builds trust and confidence in your business.

Do not let a customer get to the online ordering landing pages only to find that they need to get a credit card because you don’t accept debit cards! It is quicker for a surfer to navigate away and buy from a competitor than it is for them to get up and go find their wallet with the debit card in it!

Author Bio: Quality wordpress shopping cart plugin and free wordpress plugins can be found at PhPurchase.com

Category: Internet
Keywords: wordpress, wordpress plugins, ecommerce, plugins, ecommerce websites, shopping cart abandonment